CHAPTER 33: THE ONLY WAY

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WILL YOU DO IT?

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Ed was a wreck, he was still in the Granger's household, he had moved their bodies to sofas, laying them, he tried to think of a way to solve this, but he can't, he walked back and forth debating whether he should call the police first or investigate the scene.

'W-What should I do?' Ed thought while sobbing, 'How could I face Hermione like this?' Ed was slowly breaking down, he felt like he could collapsed at any second, 'I need to fix this, there's got to be a way.'

Ed then thought of someone that maybe know something about bringing The Grangers back to life, and then he blinked, to his suitcase, his clothes looked messy, face were swollen from all the crying, and hand bloodied because of the glass shard and hand slamming.

"GILLIGAN!" Ed shouted frantically, then the owl appeared, Ed then grabbed the owl's feather and shouted in front of his face.

"Gilligan! Do you know how to revive a person? Please! Help me!" Ed asked desperately, his face looks like he wanted to cry again. But instead of getting an affirmative, he got a negative from the owl.

The owl shook his head weakly, "I'm sorry Ed, but I can't."

"Can't?" questioned Ed, a bit desperate because of the situation, "So you have a way, but you won't tell me?" his tone sounded like a man that has been betrayed.

But the owl just stood there in silent, not knowing what to say. Ed noticed the owl's reaction and was absolutely livid, he spat on the owl's face and yelled at him.

"Do you know the situation here!? MY ACTIONS CAUSED A LITTLE GIRL TO BE AN ORPHAN GILLIGAN! I AM TRYING TO FIX IT AND YOU STILL DARE TO PUT THOSE SO-CALLED RULES FIRST?!" Ed raged; Gilligan can feel that the very space around them started to vibrate from the sheer anger of Ed. Gilligan frowned at the vibration, but ultimately decided not to say anything for now and continued the talk about the problem.

"It's for your own good Ed, if you use the magic of the outside wo-"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT!" Ed shrieked, then he calmed down a bit, "If there's a way to revive someone, tell me…" he said softly, but Gilligan can still feel the rage in his words.

The owl sighed deeply, "But you have to prepare for the consequences Ed, the council of worlds will notice you, this isn't like enchanting Ed, it's pure other world knowledge, so the council will notice it instantly, and you will be brought to them, and be judged for the crimes of the family."

Ed nodded weakly, "I'll do anything, just please… help me fix this." Ed pleaded.

Gilligan nodded his head, he then disappeared from the living room, and a couple of minutes later, he appeared again, with a book and a bizarre looking bottle behind him. He floated the items to Ed and spoke,

"That bottle is used to capture souls, open the lid near the body." Gilligan said, "But it won't work if the deceased has been dead for over an hour, and it will only capture the soul, you have to study that book in order to know how to revive it." The owl continued solemnly.

"But Ed, after you got the souls, immediately come back, we need to prepare you for what's coming. If you can, fix the house and bring the bodies here, I'll take care of the rest." Gilligan warned.

Ed gulped and nodded blankly, "Thank you Gilligan…" he said before blinking again to the Grangers.

He walked inside again, the bodies still there, the place is a mess, broken glass, flipped rugs, scattered furniture, it truly looks like that someone robbed them.

Ed then walked to the bodies, and whispered to them, "I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I'll fix this, I promise."

Ed then opened the bottle and prayed that their souls can still be captured. He put the bottle beside their bodies and waited for a reaction. He waited for a couple of seconds, nothing, a half minute later, nothing, Ed became desperate, he wanted to just unleash, but suddenly the bottles shook, and glowed silver, signalling that the soul have been captured. He then hurried off to close the lid, so the soul won't come out again.

"Oh, thank Merlin." Ed sighed in relief, then he used the mending charm to the surroundings, making it look like there weren't any damage at all. After that, he picked up the bodies, but before he could do anything again, he suddenly felt that he's being watched by something, and instantly got alert, he frowned, but then the feeling disappeared.

'What was that?' Ed asked in his mind, but then he refocused his thoughts to the reviving. He took the bottle, after that Ed then blinked again to his suitcase, and bringing the bodies

He arrived at the living room again, the bottle in hand, and a tired face.

"I did it Gilligan." Said Ed weakly while dropping the body slowly and softly.

Gilligan nodded, "At least it's on time, unlike Arisanna…" the owl grimaced.

"By the way…" Ed said as he didn't noticed the owl's expression, "I felt that someone was watching me when the bottle captured the soul."

Gilligan frowned, he didn't say anything, then he disappeared instantly without warning, and appeared again a couple of minutes later with an old paper in his 'hand', and Gilligan then gave Ed the paper, or a note or some sort.

"What's this?" Ed questioned weakly, with all the shit his been through this night, he shouldn't even be standing right now.

"A promise." Answered Gilligan, "From one of the Councilman."

Ed frowned, "What do I do with it?"

"The Hunters will come sooner than I expected, give it to them once they come, do not say anything and let them bring you for trial." Gilligan explained, "When you're on trial, again, do not say anything, and once all the councilman gathered, shout, 'I demand a trial by combat.' To their faces, no matter what the reaction, don't say anything."

"A trial by combat? That's quite a medieval method don't you think?" questioned Ed.

"Power can decide anything Ed in the multiverse, including changing the course of a trial."

Ed pondered a bit, "But why do you believe I can do it? As far as I know, even my parents didn't use this method."

"Because they didn't have your space magic Ed. Trial by combat isn't just a simple combat Ed, you will either live and be free, or die, so the Council will make sure that you will die in it." Gilligan answered seriously. "Remember what I said all right? The paper will guarantee the delay of the trial by combat, so you will be free to train at that time."

Ed nodded, "So you're saying, that, my only chance is if we can delay the trial by combat?"

"Yes." Gilligan said, "it's your only chance, otherwise, you will definitely die."

"Then what makes you think they will delay it?"

"The note will be the guarantee." Gilligan quickly explained.

"what's in the note anyway?" Ed questioned while looking at the note. "Can I open it?"

"Don't, just give it to the Hunters."

Ed sighed, "Why am I on trial anyway, I didn't do anything." Complained Ed.

"You did, it's the illegal use of a power or magic that didn't belong to the world that the offender stayed on." Explained Ed, "And the council is a bunch of greedy people, they will also judge you for the crimes of the family, they wanted to take the library and Baldeth, so you have to follow my command all right? This is not a simple matter Ed, it's between the library confiscated, you executed, exiled, or all of them if the trial succeed, you must use the trial by combat, at least you will have a chance there."

Ed nodded weakly, then his face showed a sad expression, "What about Hermione? How can we tell her that her parents were 'dead'?"

"You can ask Albus for that, and I will tell her the situation once she came here, in the meantime, do you want to talk to the souls?" Gilligan asked.

"I can?" Ed was surprised, then he nodded "I want to talk to them then." He answered decisively.

"Touch the bottle and focused on it, it will bring you inside the bottle and you will be able to talk to the souls." Gilligan explained.

Ed then picked up the bottle, he focused on it, and his vision suddenly turned black, he can't see anything, nothing, just darkness, then suddenly two lights came approaching him, the light then took form, to the appearance of the Grangers.

"Ed?" A feminine voice asked, "Is that you? What is going on here? we were suddenly attacked, it was a home robber I think, and after that, just blank."

"Mrs. Granger?" said Ed, his voice cracked a bit, "Yes, it's me, the two of you were dead…"

"Dead?" Mr. Granger was surprised, "So are you too-"

"No, I'm not dead yet." Ed shook his head; tears can be seen in his face once more. "I-It's my fault, it's my fault that you two were dead. I'm sorry…" Ed continued; he broke down to tears. "I'm sorry…"

"Oh, Ed." Mrs. Granger said, trying to hug Ed, but it didn't work as she just phased through him, "I don't know what's going on, but we don't blame you, we were robbed."

"No, you weren't robbed." Ed denied it, "You were murdered, someone wants to kill you, I thought it was my parents first, so I focused to protect them, but then the assassin didn't come, so I checked your home and turns out the target was you…" Ed explained while sobbing.

Mr. Granger sighed, "Stop Ed, like my wife said, we don't blame you, murdered or otherwise." Said Mr. Granger, "We knew what we sign up for ever since you said that a war would come, we just didn't expect it to come so early." Mr. Granger then came closer to Ed. "Take care of Hermione will you? I kind of regret that we can't see her grow up anymore…"

"No," Ed said decisively, earning a surprise look from the Grangers, "You'll take care of her by yourself, I found a way to revive you, just be patient a bit."

Mrs. Granger then smiled sadly, "Then we will wait for that day."

Ed nodded weakly to the both of them, "I'll go now Mr. and Mrs. Granger, Hermione might come to visit you later, and again, I'm sorry, I will try to fix this."

Both of them nodded, and Ed woke up in the living room again, catching his breath.

"Done Ed?" Asked Gilligan. "Your parents noticed that you went to the Grangers because of Ashbey, but because of your 'cleaning', they didn't find anything, they just saw that the Grangers were missing."

Ed nodded, "Thank you Gilligan," said Ed while smiling weakly, he saw that the bodies have disappeared, and asked the owl, "What did you do with the bodies?"

"I put it in a safe place, don't worry Ed." Answered Gilligan softly.

Ed nodded, "Okay, now let's deal with the Council of Worlds." He sighed deeply, preparing on what's to come. "Wish me luck."

Then Ed exited the suitcase, the letter in hand, and walked out of his room, he stopped for a second, he took out his wand, and casted a Patronus spell with a bit of difficulty, then he whispered to the owl, to tell Dumbledore that Hermione's parents were dead but do not tell anyone except her, and he asked that Dumbledore would send her to Ed's mansion to talk to his parents. The owl then flew out, and Ed continued to walk to the living room. On the living room, he saw his parents there, walking back and forth, and once they saw Ed, they were relieved and asked him a question.

"Ed, why didn't you say anything to us?" said Anna with a sad expression, "You suddenly screamed to Ashbey to call the Grangers, did you go there? They were missing, we can't find them in their house."

"It's- It's complicated Anna, a-and I need to go, if you meet Hermione, could you please tell her to go to my study room, and tell her to enter 'That' place? Please?" Ed explained. And as for the question, the two just nodded.

"Where do you want to go Ed? It's late night." Roger asked worriedly.

Ed shook his head, "I can't tell you Roger, just, be safe all right, make sure to tell Hermione my message. I need to deal with another problem right now…"

Roger just sighed tiredly and nodded, Then Ed walked to the lawn, exiting the mansion, and suddenly, a bunch of men appeared, guns and swords on their hands, startling Roger and Anna.

Ed nodded at the men who appeared, he gave the note to the leader, who frowned when he saw it, and Ed gestured his hand as if he surrenders himself.

Ed looked at Roger and Anna, "Don't worry, I'll see you soon Roger, Anna." Which the two parents just nodded worriedly.

"Edgart Alvis Aldrich, you are under arrest for the crimes of the Aldrich family, it includes Illegal world traveling, the murder of multiple hunters, and many more. you will follow us calmly or we will use lethal force to bring you in." said one of the Hunters sternly.

Ed nodded to the one speaking, and his hand was handcuffed, Ed looked at Roger and Anna one last time and said to the couple, "Don't forget to give my message to Hermione." then Ed and the men teleported from the lawn, leaving nothing behind.